Co2 collection methods and systems

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems of collecting carbon dioxide are disclosed. In one example, a method includes removing water from atmospheric air with a condenser and a desiccant material to produce dry air, adsorbing carbon dioxide to a material from the dry air, releasing the adsorbed carbon dioxide to a vacuum chamber, and transitioning the released carbon dioxide from a gas to a solid in the vacuum chamber.

BACKGROUND

The field of the disclosure relates generally to carbon dioxide (CO2)collection, and more specifically to methods and systems for collectingCO2 from atmospheric air.

CO2 is collected for numerous purposes. Natural sources of CO2 arecommonly mined to collect CO2 for various industrial purposes. CO2 isalso collected as a byproduct of industrial processes and to removeexcess CO2 from a supply of air.

A significant amount of CO2 is used in enhanced oil recovery (EOR).Today oil is being extracted from many oil wells that have beenabandoned but still possess significant amounts of crude oil. Typically,an oil well only provides approximately 30% of its oil during theprimary recovery phase. Another 20% may be recovered using secondaryrecovery techniques such as water flooding to raise the undergroundpressure. EOR provides a third (or tertiary) recovery technique that hasbeen used to recover an additional 20% or more of the oil from theunderground oil reservoirs. The EOR phase involves injecting very largeamounts of gas into the ground and then recovering much of it along withthe recovered oil. CO2 is a preferred gas due to its ability to mix withthe crude oil and render the oil to be substantially less viscous andmore readily extractable. Conducting these EOR operations requires asignificant capital investment to access the remaining oil in theground. However, the current declining production of oil reservoirs andrising oil prices makes EOR more affordable today creating a huge demandfor CO2.

CO2 for use in industrial processes, such as EOR for example, iscommonly collected from natural or anthropogenic sources and deliveredto a location at which it will be used. The CO2 may be delivered viatanks, a pipeline, or other suitable methods of delivery. In manyinstances, the location of use is remote from the location of collectionof the CO2, thereby increasing the cost to the user of the CO2.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofcollecting carbon dioxide includes removing water from atmospheric airwith a condenser and a desiccant material to produce dry air, adsorbingcarbon dioxide to a material from the dry air, releasing the adsorbedcarbon dioxide to a vacuum chamber, and transitioning the releasedcarbon dioxide from a gas to a solid in the vacuum chamber.

In another aspect, an apparatus for collecting carbon dioxide includes aplurality of air moving devices configured to generate a flow ofatmospheric air into the apparatus and a condenser for removing waterfrom the flow of atmospheric air. The apparatus includes a desiccant forremoving additional water from the flow of atmospheric air to producesubstantially dry air, and a contactor chamber for adsorbing carbondioxide from the dry air to a material in the contactor chamber. Theapparatus includes a vacuum chamber for evacuating the adsorbed carbondioxide from said contactor chamber and transitioning the evacuatedcarbon dioxide from a gas to a solid.

In yet another aspect, an apparatus for collecting carbon dioxideincludes a plurality of air moving devices configured to generate a flowof atmospheric air into the apparatus. The apparatus includes acondenser for removing water from the flow of atmospheric air, a firstcollection assembly configured to extract carbon dioxide from a flow ofair from the condenser, and a second collection assembly configured toextract carbon dioxide from a flow of air from said condenser. Theapparatus includes a controller configured to direct a flow of air fromthe condenser alternately to the first collection assembly and thesecond collection assembly.

The features, functions, and advantages that have been discussed can beachieved independently in various embodiments or may be combined in yetother embodiments further details of which can be seen with reference tothe following description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of an example method of collecting carbondioxide.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example apparatus for collecting carbondioxide according to the method shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another example apparatus for collectingcarbon dioxide according to the method shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of another example apparatus for collecting carbondioxide.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method of collecting carbon dioxide usingthe apparatus shown in FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As used herein, an element or step recited in the singular and proceededwith the word “a” or “an” should be understood as not excluding pluralelements or steps unless such exclusion is explicitly recited.Furthermore, references to “one embodiment” of the present invention orthe “exemplary embodiment” are not intended to be interpreted asexcluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporatethe recited features.

Methods and systems for collecting carbon dioxide (CO2) are describedherein. Although the systems and methods are described for use withenhanced oil recovery (EOR) and in fixed location CO2 collection plants,aspects of this disclosure may be used in other areas and applications.Moreover, the methods and systems described herein may be scaled up orscaled down for use in various other areas an applications, includinguse in moveable, or portable, CO2 collection facilities. The embodimentsdescribed herein may provide increased CO2 production over some knownmethods of CO2 collection. Further, the described embodiments mayprovide for CO2 collection in environments having atmospheric air with agreater water content than the environments in which some known methodsare capable of operating. Moreover, the described embodiments providewater as a byproduct of the collection of CO2 and remove more CO2 fromthe environment than is produced by the embodiments in the process ofcollecting the CO2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a flow diagram ofan exemplary method, generally indicated by the reference numeral 100,of collecting CO2. Method 100 includes removing 102 water fromatmospheric air with a condenser and a desiccant material to produce dryair. Carbon dioxide is adsorbed 104 to a material from the dry air, andthe adsorbed carbon dioxide is released 106 to a vacuum chamber. Method100 includes transitioning 108 the released carbon dioxide from a gas toa solid in the vacuum chamber and transitioning 110 the solid CO2 to agas for extraction from the vacuum chamber.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary apparatus 200 for collectingCO2, such as by the method 100 described above. Large amounts of freeair are blown through a condenser 202 that removes most of the waterfrom the air. The dryer air is then directed through a desiccant chamber204 that contains a desiccant to remove substantially all of theremaining water in the air. The air next enters a contactor chamber 206which includes a material that adsorbs CO2 from the dry air. When asufficient amount of CO2 has been adsorbed to the material, the adsorbedCO2 is released to a vacuum chamber 208. The gaseous CO2 in vacuumchamber 208 is transitioned to a solid in vacuum chamber 208.

Condenser 202 and desiccant chamber 204 remove substantially all of thewater contained in the air to produce dry air for use in the remainderof the process of collecting CO2. The water removed from the air iscollected as a byproduct of the process. The collected water may then beused for any suitable purpose.

Desiccant chamber 204 contains a desiccant material to removesubstantially all of the remaining water from the air that has passedthrough condenser 202. In the exemplary embodiment, the desiccantmaterial is a molecular sieve material. In some embodiments, thedesiccant material is a molecular sieve material with an alkali metalalumino-silicate structure that has an effective pore opening of threeangstroms. In other embodiments, other desiccant material may be usedincluding, for example, molecular sieve material having differentstructures and/or effective pore sizes. Any desiccant material suitableto remove substantially all of the water remaining in the air passedthrough condenser 202 may be used.

Contactor chamber 206 includes a material that adsorbs CO2 from the dryair. In the exemplary embodiment, the material is a molecular sievematerial. In some embodiments, the molecular sieve material is amolecular sieve material with a 10 angstrom effective pore opening size.In some embodiments, the molecular sieve material is a zeolite material.In other embodiments, the material may be any material suitable foradsorbing CO2 from dry air.

In the exemplary embodiment, the adsorbed CO2 is released from thematerial in contactor chamber 206 by subjecting the material to vacuum.In some embodiments contactor chamber 206 is substantially sealed to theflow of air, and vacuum is applied, via vacuum chamber 208, to contactorchamber 206. The adsorbed CO2 releases from the material in contactorchamber 206 to vacuum chamber 208.

Within vacuum chamber 208, the gaseous CO2 is transitioned to a solid.In the exemplary embodiment, the CO2 is transitioned to a solid using asurface within vacuum chamber 208 cooled to a temperature low enough tocause the gaseous CO2 to solidify on the cold surface. In someembodiments, the vacuum chamber includes a cold finger through which acoolant is passed to reduce the temperature of the external surface ofthe cold finger, onto which the CO2 solidifies. In other embodiments,any other suitable technique may be used to solidify the released CO2.

The solid CO2 within vacuum chamber 208 may be collected by any suitablemethod of collection. In the exemplary embodiment, the solid CO2 istransitioned back to a gas and extracted for storage and/or transport.The solid CO2 is transitioned to a gas by raising the temperature withinvacuum chamber 208 until the solid CO2 transitions to gaseous CO2. Inother embodiments, any other suitable method for forcing the solid CO2to transition to a gas may be utilized.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another exemplary apparatus 300 forcollecting CO2 according to method 100. Apparatus 300 includes condenser202, desiccant chamber 204, contact chamber 206 and vacuum chamber 208.Apparatus 300 also includes a desiccant chamber 304 and a contactchamber 306. Desiccant chamber 204 and contact chamber 206 form a firstcollection assembly 310, while desiccant chamber 304 and contact chamber306 form a second collection assembly 312. Each of the first and secondcollection assemblies 310 and 312 may be used to extract carbon dioxidefrom a flow of air from condenser 202 in the manner described above.Each of the first and second collection assemblies 310 and 312 may alsobe described as a collection channel or path.

A controller 314 controls operation of the apparatus 300 and directs aflow of air from condenser 202 alternately to first collection assembly310 and second collection assembly 312. For example, after operatingfirst collection assembly 310 for a cycle substantially as discussedabove with respect to apparatus 200, controller 314 may close off firstcollection assembly 310 and open second collection 312. Air fromcondenser 202 passes into desiccant chamber 304 and is dried asdescribed above with respect to apparatus 200. The dry air then passesto contact chamber 306, where CO2 adsorbs to a material in contactchamber 306. While this is occurring, desiccant chamber 204 isregenerated to remove collected water (not shown in FIG. 3) from itslast cycle.

When sufficient CO2 has adsorbed in contactor chamber 306, controller314 seals contactor chamber 306 to the air flow from condenser 202, andconnects contactor chambers 206 and 306 in fluid communication with eachother. Contactor chamber 206 is at a lower pressure, because of its lastcycle, than contactor chamber 306 and the pressures in contactorchambers 206 and 306 equalize. Controller 314 fluidically couples vacuumchamber 208 to contact chamber 306 and the pressure within contactchambers 206 and 306 is reduced to release the CO2 from the material incontact chamber 306.

When substantially all of the CO2 has been released from contactorchamber 306 to vacuum chamber 208, the connection between contactorchambers 206 and 306 is closed. Controller 314 may then direct the flowof air from condenser 202 to first collection assembly 310 to begin theextraction process with first collection assembly 310 while secondcollection assembly finishes the collection process and the desiccant indesiccant chamber 304 is regenerated. In vacuum chamber 208, gaseous CO2is transitioned to a solid in the manner described above. Whensubstantially all of the adsorbed CO2 has been extracted to vacuumchamber 208, the connection between contactor chamber 306 and vacuumchamber 208 is closed and controller 314 increases the temperature invacuum chamber 208 to transition the solid CO2 to a gas. The CO2 gas isthen extracted from vacuum chamber 208 to an external storage facilityor pipeline (not shown).

FIG. 4 is a diagram of another example apparatus, or system, 400 forcollecting carbon dioxide according to one or more aspects of thisdisclosure. FIG. 5 is a flow diagram 500 of operation of an apparatusfor collecting carbon dioxide, such as apparatus 400.

Apparatus 400 includes a condenser grid 402, a first collection assembly410, a second collection assembly 412, and a vacuum chamber 408. Each offirst and second collection assemblies 410 includes a desiccant chamber404 and a contactor chamber 406. Each of the first and second collectionassemblies 410 and 412 may also be described as a collection channel orpath. Each of first and second collection assemblies 410 and 412includes a plurality of shutter doors 414 for substantially sealingdesiccant chambers 404 and/or contactor chambers 406. A systemcontroller 420 controls operation of apparatus 400. During operation,while one collection assembly 410 or 412 is collecting CO2 from freeair, the other collection assembly 412 or 410 is regenerating byreleasing the CO2 from contactor chamber 406 and by drying desiccant indesiccant chamber 406 to release its collected water.

Apparatus 400 includes a plurality of air moving devices 416 positionedto create a flow of atmospheric air through condenser grid 402. In theexemplary embodiment, the air moving devices 416 are fan assemblies. Insome embodiments, air moving devices 416 are industrial gradedirect-drive, double-wide, double-inlet fans with backward-inclined fanblades that pull air from outside apparatus 400. In the exemplaryembodiment, apparatus 400 includes an air filter assembly 418. Airfilter assembly 418 includes one or more filters positioned to filterexternal, atmospheric air pulled into apparatus 400 by air movingdevices 416.

In the exemplary embodiment, condenser grid 402 includes a condenser orchiller dehydrator that reduces the water content in the air by using alaminar flow heat exchanger that contains cold nitrogen to lower thesurface temperature of condenser grid 402 below the dew point. The watercondenses from the free air on a heat exchanger and is collected as asecondary product. In some embodiments, condenser grid 402 reduces watercontent in the air by 90%.

Controller 420 diverts the output air from the condenser 402 intocollection assemblies 410 and 412 on a cyclic basis of collection andregeneration. Desiccant chamber 404 in each collection assembly 410 and412 removes substantially all of the remaining water in the air flowingfrom condenser 402. Water is captured by the desiccant in desiccantchamber 404 during the collection phase and is released during theregeneration phase of the operation cycle. Each desiccant chamber 404can be independently and cyclically sealed for regeneration.Regeneration of desiccant chambers 404 utilizes residual vacuum andresidual heat from other operations, such as vacuum pumps and cryogeniccooling pumps. In the exemplary embodiment, the desiccant material thatcaptures the water is molecular sieve material. In some embodiments, themolecular sieve material has an alkali metal alumino-silicate structurewith an effective pore opening of three angstroms.

Each contactor chamber 406 contains a material on which CO2 adsorbs fromthe dry air passing into contactor chamber 406 from desiccant chamber404. In the exemplary embodiment, the material is a molecular sievematerial. In some embodiments, the material includes a zeolite 13×molecular sieve material with a ten angstrom effective pore openingsize. After CO2 has adsorbed to the material in contactor chamber 406,the CO2 regeneration phase begins. Contactor chamber 406 issubstantially sealed from the flow of air from condenser 402 by closingshutter doors 414. A valve (not shown) connecting contactor chambers 406of first and second collector assemblies 410 and 412 is opened toconnect both contactor chambers 406. When one collector assembly 410 or412 is in the collection phase of the cycle, the other collectorassembly 412 or 410 is in, or has just completed, the regeneration phaseof the cycle. The contactor chamber 406 of the collector assembly 410 or412 that is in the regeneration phase is ready to begin its collectionphase and is at a low pressure. When the two contactor chambers 406 arecoupled by opening the valve connecting them, the pressure in bothcontactor chambers 406 equalizes. In some embodiments, the pressureequalizes to about one-half atmospheric pressure. A vacuum pump 422extracts the chamber air from contactor chamber 406 via vacuum chamber408 and vents the air outside apparatus 400. Vacuum pump 422 furtherreduces the pressure in contactor chamber 406 until the pressure is lowenough for the adsorbent material to release the CO2 to vacuum chamber408.

Vacuum chamber 408 extracts CO2 gas from contactor chamber 406 andcaptures the CO2 as a solid by using a cold-wall surface. In theexemplary embodiment, vacuum chamber includes a cold finger 424. Acompressor 426 compresses a coolant that is passed through cold finger424. In the exemplary embodiment, the coolant includes liquid nitrogen.The liquid nitrogen lowers the temperature of cold finger 424 to belowminus 150 degrees Fahrenheit. After the coolant passes through coldfinger 424, the coolant is routed through condenser 402 before returningto compressor 426. The surface of cold finger 424 is cooled to atemperature sufficient to cause the CO2 in vacuum chamber 408 totransition from a gaseous state to a solid state. The transition fromgaseous CO2 to solid CO2 lowers the pressure in vacuum chamber 408 evenmore, which extracts even more CO2 from contactor chamber 406. When mostof the CO2 has been evacuated from the contactor chamber 406 the valvebetween the two contactor chambers 406 is closed.

To extract the solid CO2 from vacuum chamber 408, vacuum chamber 408 issealed from contactor chamber 406, the cooling of cold finger 424 isshut off, and heat is added to vacuum chamber 408 until the solid CO2transitions to a gaseous state. In the exemplary embodiment, heat isadded to vacuum chamber 408 using a resistive heater 428 within vacuumchamber 408. In other embodiments other heating devices capable ofcontrolled heating of vacuum chamber 408 may be used. The transitionfrom solid to gas increases the pressure in vacuum chamber 408. A valve(not shown) to an external compressor 428 is opened and the gaseous CO2is extracted through external compressor 426 to an external storagefacility or pipeline (neither shown).

Desiccant material in each desiccant chamber 404 is dried duringregeneration of the contactor chamber 406 material. Desiccant chamber404 is sealed, using shutters 414, after it is near saturation from theair that has come from condenser 402. A valve (not shown) betweendesiccant chamber 404 and a condenser chamber 430 is opened. Vacuum pump422 pulls on condensing chamber 430, thereby pulling the water out ofthe desiccant material in desiccant chamber 404 and into condenserchamber 430. After the desiccant is dry, the valve closes and anothervalve (not shown) opens to drain the water from condenser chamber 430and send it to the same storage as the water from condenser 402. As aresult, water is collected from both condenser 402 and desiccant chamber404.

System controller 420 monitors system operation parameters as well asenvironmental parameters, such as atmospheric temperature, pressure andhumidity. System controller 420 uses this information to control thecollection cycle time and the coolant flow through condenser 402. Systemcontroller 420 activates actuators to activate gates and valves tooperate apparatus 400. In some embodiments, system controller 420includes a built-in-test (BIT) routine that runs a detailed systemoperational test at start-up. In some embodiments, system controller 420continuously monitors system operation and displays current status to auser on a display panel (not shown). In some embodiments, failures ofapparatus 400 are alerted by system controller 420 with visual and audioalerts. In some embodiments, system controller 420 may automaticallyshut down the apparatus 400 partially or entirely upon occurrence of afailure.

In one example, apparatus 400 is implemented within a single storybuilding having a footprint of about forty feet by fifty feet. In thisexample implementation, apparatus 400 includes twenty fans 416 producinga total air flow of about five million cubic feet per minute. Thisimplementation collects over one hundred tons of CO2 per day. For every100 tons of CO2 collected, this implementation removes about sixty toseventy tons of CO2 from the atmosphere after accounting for the CO2created by the power plant powering apparatus 400.

In summary, and with reference to flow diagram 500 in FIG. 5, operationof one channel of an apparatus for collecting carbon dioxide, such asapparatus 400 begins with fans blowing air into a water condenser.Cryogenic coolant flows through the condenser to condense water from theair. A gate sends air to an open contactor channel and the air enters amol sieve desiccant in the open channel. The air, which is now dry,enters an open contactor chamber where CO2 collected by a 13× molecularsieve. The dry air passes through the open contactor chamber. Aftersufficient carbon dioxide has been collected, the contactor chamber andthe desiccant chamber are sealed from the incoming air flow. Thedesiccant chamber is evacuated, the collected water is sent to storage,and the desiccant in the desiccant chamber is dried. Meanwhile, a vacuumpump creates a partial vacuum in the contactor chamber and vents the airextracted from the collector chamber to the outside. The air vent to theoutside is closed and the vacuum in the collection chamber causes thecollected CO2 to be released from the molecular sieve and collect in avacuum chamber. The CO2 solidifies on a cold finger in the vacuumchamber. The cold finger is cooled to about negative one hundred andnine degrees Fahrenheit using cryogenic coolant. The cryogenic coolantis circulated through the cold finger and then routed to the condenserdescribed above. When substantially all of the CO2 has been extractedfrom the contactor chamber, the contactor chamber is sealed from thevacuum chamber and the vacuum chamber is heated. The solid CO2transitions to a gas and is piped to a storage tank. As described above,apparatus 400 includes two channels, or paths, that operate in parallelalternating cycles. Thus, when one channel is sealed to extract thecollected CO2, the other channel is opened to receive the air blown byfans and collect CO2.

The systems and methods described herein may be scaled up or down tomeet desired CO2 capture. For example, decreasing the airflow of intothe system, such as by using fewer or smaller fans, will decrease theamount of CO2 collected each day, but may result in a smaller sizesystem. Similarly, increasing the number of air moving devices, usingfans that provide a greater flow of air, etc. can increase the CO2collected per day, with an increase in system size. Further, more thantwo collection assemblies may be used. For example, a system can includefour collection assemblies cyclically operated in pairs (e.g., twocollection assemblies collecting and two collection assembliesregenerating).

In some embodiments, the systems and methods described herein may beimplemented at, or near, a location at which the collected CO2 will beused. For example, if the collected CO2 is to be used in EOR, the systemmay be implemented at the oil field at which the EOR will occur.Further, exemplary systems may be implemented located at or near anexisting pipeline, thereby reducing transportation and/or pipelinecosts.

Thus, exemplary embodiments may provide increased CO2 production oversome known methods of CO2 collection. Further, the described embodimentsmay provide for CO2 collection in environments having atmospheric airwith greater water content than the environments in which some knownmethods are capable of operating. Moreover, the described embodimentsprovide water as a byproduct of the collection of CO2 and remove moreCO2 from the environment than is produced by the embodiments in theprocess of collecting the CO2. Accordingly, embodiments of the presentdisclosure may provide affordable, environmentally friendly collectionof CO2 from atmospheric air.

This written description uses examples to disclose various embodiments,which include the best mode, to enable any person skilled in the art topractice those embodiments, including making and using any devices orsystems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope isdefined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur tothose skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be withinthe scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do notdiffer from the literal language of the claims, or if they includeequivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from theliteral languages of the claims.

1. A method of collecting carbon dioxide, said method comprising: removing water from atmospheric air with a condenser and a desiccant material to produce dry air; adsorbing carbon dioxide to a material from the dry air; releasing the adsorbed carbon dioxide to a vacuum chamber; and transitioning the released carbon dioxide from a gas to a solid in the vacuum chamber.
 2. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein said removing water from atmospheric air comprises removing water from atmospheric air by forcing a flow of atmospheric air through the condenser and a desiccant chamber containing the desiccant material to produce dry air.
 3. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein said adsorbing carbon dioxide comprises directing the dry air through a molecular sieve material in a chamber.
 4. A method in accordance with claim 3, wherein said releasing the adsorbed carbon dioxide comprises substantially sealing the chamber and creating a vacuum within the chamber sufficient to cause the molecular sieve material to release the adsorbed carbon dioxide to the vacuum chamber.
 5. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein said transitioning the released carbon dioxide comprises cooling a surface within the vacuum chamber to a temperature low enough to cause the released carbon dioxide in the vacuum chamber to solidify on the surface.
 6. A method in accordance with claim 5, further comprising transitioning the carbon dioxide in the vacuum chamber from a solid to a gas for collection by substantially sealing the vacuum chamber, terminating cooling of the surface, and heating an interior of the vacuum chamber.
 7. A method in accordance with claim 5, wherein said transitioning the released carbon dioxide comprises cooling the surface within the vacuum chamber with a coolant.
 8. A method in accordance with claim 7, further comprising directing the coolant from the vacuum chamber through the condenser.
 9. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising collecting water removed from atmospheric air with the condenser and the desiccant material.
 10. An apparatus for collecting carbon dioxide, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of air moving devices configured to generate a flow of atmospheric air into said apparatus; a condenser for removing water from the flow of atmospheric air; a desiccant for removing additional water from the flow of atmospheric air to produce substantially dry air; a contactor chamber for adsorbing carbon dioxide from the substantially dry air to a material in said contactor chamber; a vacuum chamber for evacuating the adsorbed carbon dioxide from said contactor chamber and transitioning the evacuated carbon dioxide from a gas to a solid.
 11. An apparatus in accordance with claim 10, wherein the material in said contactor chamber comprises a molecular sieve material.
 12. An apparatus in accordance with claim 10, wherein said vacuum chamber comprises a cold finger, the cold finger cooled to a temperature sufficient to transition the evacuated carbon dioxide from a gas to a solid, the solid carbon dioxide collecting on the cold finger.
 13. An apparatus in accordance with claim 12, wherein the cold finger is cooled by flowing a coolant through the cold finger, and wherein the coolant is directed to said condenser after flowing through the cold finger.
 14. An apparatus in accordance with claim 12, wherein said vacuum chamber further comprises a heater for heating said vacuum chamber to a temperature sufficient to transition the liquid carbon dioxide to a gas.
 15. An apparatus for collecting carbon dioxide, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of air moving devices configured to generate a flow of atmospheric air into said apparatus; a condenser for removing water from the flow of atmospheric air; a first collection assembly configured to extract carbon dioxide from a flow of air from said condenser; a second collection assembly configured to extract carbon dioxide from a flow of air from said condenser; and a controller configured to direct a flow of air alternately from said condenser to said first collection assembly and said second collection assembly.
 16. An apparatus in accordance with claim 15, wherein said first collection assembly and said second collection assembly each include: a desiccant chamber for removing additional water from the flow of air from the condenser to produce substantially dry air; and a contactor chamber for adsorbing carbon dioxide from the dry air to a material in the contactor chamber.
 17. An apparatus in accordance with claim 16, further comprising a vacuum chamber coupled to said first collection assembly and said second collection assembly, said vacuum chamber configured for: evacuating adsorbed carbon dioxide from the contactor chamber of said first and second collection assemblies; and transitioning the evacuated carbon dioxide from a gas to a solid.
 18. An apparatus in accordance with claim 15, wherein said controller is configured to operate one of said first and second collection assemblies in a collection phase while operating the other of said first and second collection assemblies in a regeneration phase.
 19. An apparatus in accordance with claim 18, wherein said controller is configured to couple the contactor chamber in the said first or second collection assembly in the collection phase to the contactor chamber in said first or second collection assembly in the regeneration phase to substantially equalize the pressure in the contactor chambers.
 20. An apparatus in accordance with claim 15, further comprising a water chamber, and wherein said controller is configured to extract water removed from air by said desiccant chamber and said condenser to said water chamber. 